The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Alfred Zeisler

Writers:

John L. Balderston (writer)
E. Phillips Oppenheim (novel)

Release Date:

27 February 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Comedy

Tagline:

A Story of Rags to Riches... and More Riches

Plot:

A bored millionaire wagers his doctor that he can support himself at a working class job for year without touching his inheritance.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Millionaire | Bet | London England | Con Man

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Ernest Bliss
Mary Brian	...	Frances Clayton
Peter Gawthorne	...	Sir James Alroyd
Henry Kendall	...	Lord Honiton
Leon M. Lion	...	Dorrington
John Turnbull	...	Masters
Arthur Hardy	...	Crawley
Iris Ashley	...	Clare
Garry Marsh	...	The Buyer
Andreas Malandrinos	...	Guiseppi (as Andrea Malandrinos)
Alfred Wellesley	...	Montague
Marie Wright	...	Mrs. Heath
Buena Bent	...	Mrs. Mott
Charles Farrell	...	Scales
Quentin McPhearson	...	Clowes (as Quinton MacPherson)

Also Known As:

Riches and Romance
Romance and Riches (USA)
The Amazing Adventure (USA) (reissue title)
The Amazing Quest

Runtime:

80 min | USA:61 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | UK:U | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Empire Films

Quotes:

Ernest Bliss: Here's to us!
[They drink the wine as she laughs softly]
Ernest Bliss: Ah, but it's good!
Frances Clayton: It's lovely!
Ernest Bliss: So cheap, my goodness, I thought it would taste like red ink. Fancy, it's magic. Yes, it's your magic too! It's you who turned this cheap wine, this cheap food into a feast for the gods!

Movie Connections:

Remake of The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss (1920)

Worthwhile Idea, & Has Some Good Scenes

This has a worthwhile story idea, plus Cary Grant in one of his earlier starring roles, and it has some good scenes. There are a number of other, better movies made in the 1930s that were based on similar ideas, but this one is a solid feature. The main thing that keeps it from being better is that the story and script do not always make the best use of their opportunities. As a result, there are some sequences that take up screen time that could have been used for something better, while some potentially fine moments are under-emphasized.

Grant plays a wealthy young man who has become jaded and spoiled by the company of other well-to-do idlers, and who sets out on a challenge to learn how to work for a living. This setup lends itself to a lot of good material, and the best moments are Grant's interactions with other everyday persons who don't know who he is.

Within a very short time after this was filmed, Grant became one of the best actors around at handling this kind of material, and he was then able to make this kind of story work even when it wasn't particularly well-written. Here, there are a number of times when his developing flair shows through, but he wasn't quite experienced enough yet to carry the whole load, so there are some sequences that lack the spark that they needed in order to keep moving. It makes the movie somewhat uneven, still worth seeing if you like the era and genre, but otherwise unremarkable.